Abstract - The Information Society 12(2)

Linguistic and critical analysis of computer-mediated communication: Some
ethical and scholarly considerations

Susan Herring

Two proposals (Cavazos 1994 and King 1996) relating to whether
and how computer-mediated communication (CMC) researchers should cite electronic
messages used as data are compared. Although the proposals prescribe opposite
solutions, both contain similar assumptions about the nature of CMC and about
the nature of research. These assumptions are argued to reflect discipline-specific
biases that exclude other legitimate forms of CMC research. Two examples are
discussed of research paradigms that are excluded by the guidelines: linguistic
analysis in the positivist tradition, and critical analysis in the social realist
tradition. The critical paradigm in particular raises a number of additional
ethical considerations not addressed by the proposed guidelines. It is suggested
that existing ethical guidelines within each discipline largely suffice to guide
on-line research, with the addition of a CMC-specific recommendation clarifying
the rights and obligations of researcher and researched in restricted-access
as compared with open-access on-line groups.